John Ratzenberger (best known for playing the mailman Cliff Clavin on Cheers) is launching a crowd source campaign today with FundAnything for his brand new television series, ‘John Ratzenberger’s American Made.’

“From the things we need, to the things we want, to the things we dream about— we’re going to show you the best of our country’s home grown products,” says Ratzenberger. “But more importantly, we’ll highlight the remarkable men and women who use their skills and ingenuity to create goods they can proudly call made in the USA.”

The show will also empower viewers with a direct and easy path on where to buy the products profiled. The series will be produced with RealityTVStar.com, which Ratzenberger co-founded.

“We chose to crowd fund the initial few episodes for strategic reasons,” said RealityTVStar.com CEO, Jeffrey Solomon. “Crowd funding is an excellent way to mobilize fans and promote our American made corporate partners before the show launches. It’s also an excellent way to allow the public to be a part of the show before its release on TV.”

Crowd funding has grown into an extremely successful method to fund creative projects without the bureaucracy of corporate mandates. Ratzenberger’s campaign will give donors a chance to be on the show; join John at a VIP events; receive products profiled, and many more opportunities only available to donors. He has already signed on 30+ American-made companies and industry groups.

Ratzenberger’s career includes 40 feature films and dozens of television shows including the highly successful ‘John Ratzenberger’s Made in America,’ which ran 5 seasons on the Travel Channel from 2004 to 2008. John is currently a regular on FX’s ‘Legit,’ and has recently appeared on Fox’s ‘Bones,’ CBS’s ‘CSI,’ Lifetime’s ‘Drop Dead Diva,’ and TNT’s ‘Franklin & Bash.’ He is also in production for the newest Pixar film ‘Inside Out.’

About Reality TV Star
RealityTVStar.com is a reality TV production company that uses technology to improve the process of developing, casting and producing reality TV shows. RealityTVStar.com offers fans the ability to upload “slice of life,” casting, and “home” video clips, for the chance to be discovered by the RealityTVStar.com team of producers.

HIGH POINT — The reason Robert Deese is optimistic about the future of American-made furniture lies in the innards of the sofas made at his Montgomery County plant.

A vice president at Lancer Furniture in Star, Deese stood in a High Point Market showroom full of his company’s products on Sunday and explained why customers are increasingly dissatisfied with imported furniture.

“That’s the thing with upholstered furniture — the value is on the inside,” he said. “You can’t see it unless you flip it over and start cutting it apart. You can’t show somebody. And the Chinese, some of the fabrics and foam they use can make it look really pretty, except three months from now, you couldn’t tell that the foam was bad, the (design) is going to come off the fabric and that the particle board or half-inch plywood could come apart.”

Lancer is one of 60 furniture exhibitors in the Made in America Pavilion in the Suites at Market Square at the fall market, which continues through Thursday.

The 25,000-square-foot exhibit space is devoted solely to domestically-produced goods, according to International Market Centers, which operates the showroom. Launched two years ago with 30 exhibitors, the pavilion has doubled in size following an aggressive sales and marketing effort and an increase in consumer demand for American-made furniture, according to IMC.

In addition to wooden furniture, exhibits at the pavilion include upholstery, rugs, wall art and decorative accessories.

“For many retailers and designers, offering domestically-produced merchandise has moved from a trend in the marketplace to an absolute expectation by their customers to present American-made options,” said Julie Messner, vice president of leasing for IMC.

While several factors related to overseas furniture production — such as an increase in offshore labor and shipping costs — have played into the hands of American manufacturers, Deese said consumer tastes are driving many of the trends.

“We’re getting a good response out of people wanting to buy ‘Made in America.’ They’ve had enough experience with buying some of the Chinese stuff,” he said.

Other Made in America pavilion exhibitors said having domestic furniture companies gathered in one spot should help them reach more buyers.

Wally Mitchum, president of Carolina Classic Furniture in Granite Falls, said people at the pavilion appreciate the stories of companies like his, which came up with a variety of new designs for its furniture after a 2006 fire destroyed his factory.

“That’s why I’m here, because I believe in ‘Made in America,’” said Mitchum. “For some other businesses, they’re about, ‘I want to make a dollar.’ They don’t care about how it’s done.”

Deese said he’s seen the market put more emphasis on American-made products.

“We think being here pulls us out from the crowd,” he said. “We can really make sure people understand we do American fabrics, we have our own foam facility. Pretty much the whole process is done right there.”

Andy McAlister is another Made in America pavilion exhibitor banking on the growth in consumer appetites for hand-crafted furniture.

Before he went to work for Wellborn Industries, Inc. — a Jacksons Gap, Ala. company that processes the wood inside old mills into custom-made furniture — McAlister said he worked for a large furniture company and was involved in extensive offshore production.

“I used to import 300 containers (of furniture) a year, and I’m not proud of that, but that’s just what we did back in the day,” said McAlister. “One reason things have changed is that, for people like me, they’re a little older and they see what it does to the country when you buy overseas.”